Hello All,
A lady gave me some costume jewelry rings and among them is 2 antler
rings unfinished. The rings have been shaped but that is all that was
done with them.
How do I finish and polish these rings?
I have never tried to work with antler or bone, so I don’t know
where to start.
Any help will be greatly appreciated
Veva Bailey
You can cut it and shape it but you shouldn’t breathe in the dust so
keep it wet or use good ventilation. Any bone substance. Trust me you
wont want to breathe it a soon as you smell it cutting. You can use a
saw or cutting disks or files and it will polish as well.
wear a particulate mask …
Some antler is porous and it needs to be treated to work with it.
Thank you for your answers. I’m glad to be reminder about the dust.
How do I treat the antler and with what?
Veva Bailey
How do I treat the antler and with what?
Superglue
H Veva
I work a bit with antler.
here are some things you can do to treat your antler
If you have the gear the best thing you can do is stabilize it in a
polymer. A 2 part mix epoxy or fiberglass resin with get into all
the holes and cracks. finish your jewellery and then put it in a
small container with the resin and then put it in your vacuum
chamber for about 5 min. take it out let it drain and wipe it with a
bit of acetone then let sit for 24 hours. afterward you can re
polish sand and rework as needed.
the low tech way and the most environmentally friendly way is to
simply get an old pot and some bee wax. heat up the beeswax in the
pot until melted. be sure not to put to much heat under it you dont
want it to burn or catch fire. the double boiler method works great
then just simmer your antler jewellery in the wax for 15 min or so.
take the ring out of the wax and wipe of the excess. let cool and
harden then buff with a clean white cotton buff.
I have used both these methods with great success, if the jewellery
is not going to receive to much in the way of stress, the beeswax
method is my preference.
happy carving
Les